Cay Mayo writes

This past week, thanks to the rain-snow-rain-snow-freezing weather I’ve been reading my eyeballs inside out. Here’s what been in my stack:

•  Within the usual steady stream of who-dun-its I’ve discovered E.J.Copperman (an alias)  http://www.ejcopperman.com and his Haunted Guesthouse Series.  Fun, well-done reads.
• I’ve also been on an Erma Bombeck trip thanks to a suggestion from a writing pal that I should enter the Erma Bombeck writing contest  http://humorwriters.org/2012-writing-competition/  I tried. I really tried but I couldn’t find any funny for it. Fell flat on my ass, bypassing the funny bone altogether so I hunted down four of her books for a refill of her delightful humor.
• I ran across Stuart McLean’s The Vinyl Café Notebooks. Stuart is a story-telling comic with a popular CBC weekly radio show. His stories are always busting with simple, honest, touching humor that sneaks inside your heart and head and always leaves you wanting just a little more.
• Finally. Finally, my request for Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird arrived from our local library. Now this is the third time over the past five years I’ve borrowed this book and I should have known better. Her earthy style of humor and her pockets of wisdom are not to be rushed through. Nope this book demands slow careful perusal, so when I wasn’t finished with it but couldn’t renew because of others waiting for their turn I gave up and bought my own copy. I know I’ll be reading it again over and over. Hell, it should be mandatory for every writer to read it at least once.
• Another delight is finding a Natalie Goldberg books I don’t remember  reading—The True Secret of Writing. I fell in love with her Writing Down the Bones so I hold high hopes for this one as soon as I can get to it.
• On a more serious side I’m halfway through Life Lessons by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross & David Kessler; Two experts on death and dying that teach us about the mysteries of life and living.  I was concerned it might be mildly depressing but it’s a well-written wake-up call about living. Good unexpected read.
• And because Spring is coming up fast, my last book in my pile is No Guff Vegetable Gardening by Donna Balzer & Steven Biggs. A messy fun reminder of what I’ve forgotten I knew about dirt soil.

A quote I found in one of the books (I know not which) is worth sharing:

‘I stuck my head out the window this morning and spring kissed me bang in the face’ —Langston Hughes.

Yeah man, it’s just around the freaking corner!